Date: Wed, 24 Mar 1999 16:31:57 -0500
From: Kevin Ivers
Subject: LCR CRITICIZES BUSH ON GAY COMMENTS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Kevin Ivers
March 24, 1999 (202) 347-5306 x12
ANTI-GAY COMMENTS DIMINISH BUSH'S INCLUSIVE IMAGE
Texas Governor Warned That Pandering to Intolerance Will Doom Candidacy
(WASHINGTON) The nation's largest gay Republican organization strongly
criticized comments on gays by Texas Governor George W. Bush (R), and
warned the likely Republican presidential candidate that he will not be
able to avoid addressing the issue of anti-gay intolerance in the 2000
elections.
At a press conference on March 22, Governor Bush was asked about
legislation in the Texas state legislature that would ban gay individuals
or couples from adopting children or providing foster care in all possible
circumstances, and would order the state to remove children currently in
the homes of gay people in the state. Bush was quoted as saying: "I
believe children ought to be adopted in families with a woman and a man who
are married" and "I am opposed to gay adoptions." When asked if he then
supported the removal of children from gay homes, he said: "I have no idea
whether the children ought to be removed or not removed."
Bush further stated that he believes there is no reason to include sexual
orientation a state hate crimes bill, which is moving through the Texas
legislature. Since his comments at the press conference, Bush
spokespersons have tried to back away, saying he would "carefully consider"
legislation that comes to his desk.
"This seems like a case of 'here we go again,'" said Rich Tafel, executive
director of Log Cabin Republicans. "The Governor appears to be making the
same mistake as his father made in 1992, and Bob Dole made in 1996.
Pandering to the religious right in the primaries and trying to run back to
the center in the general election has failed over and over again. But
worse, it seems like the Governor was badly prepared to address these very
serious issues."
"Governor Bush needs to understand that the gay vote is as large as the
Latino vote, and it's just as Republican," Tafel said. "And when you
attack gays, you have families and friends and others that make up the
swing voters that you need to win a general election. Republicans
everywhere were hoping this campaign would be different, but this might be
an indication that it will be more of the same."
On the adoption issue, Tafel said: "You don't just wade into the issue of
tearing children out of stable, loving homes if you want to be the leader
of the free world. I hope the Governor will take another, much more
serious look at this issue, because he needs to understand the terrible
moral implications of what he said in the context of what is sitting in his
own legislature right now."
On February 9, Tafel wrote to Bush about the gay adoption bills in the
legislature, detailing how the bills "are so sweeping and aggressive that
from an objective standpoint, their passage would do serious harm to the
best interests of adoptive and foster care children in the state of Texas."
Tafel wrote that the bills "were designed merely to express a blanket
intolerance towards gay people in Texas, with innocent children as
political pawns." [LETTER ATTACHED]
On hate crimes, Tafel observed: "If the governor believes that all of the
people in Texas are protected under current laws, than he needs to be
consistent and call for the end of all hate crimes legislation, and not
single out gays. In fact, there are few states in the country with a worse
record of allowing perpetrators of anti-gay violence to get off scott free
than Texas."
"We are still asking Governor Bush to listen to other points of view on
these issues," Tafel said. "He needs to demonstrate that he wants to be a
leader of all the people."
Log Cabin Republicans is the nation's largest gay Republican organization,
with state and local chapters nationwide, a federal political action
committee and a national office headquartered in Washington, D.C.
####
February 9, 1999
The Honorable George W. Bush
Governor of Texas
State Capitol
P.O. Box 12428
Austin, TX 78711
Dear Governor Bush:
I am writing today regarding legislation introduced in the state
legislature which would prohibit gay individuals from being adoptive or
foster parents in the state of Texas under any possible circumstance. I am
asking you to support the principle that in the foster care and adoption
policies of the state of Texas, the best interests of the children must
always come first and not the gay-bashing agenda of a narrow interest group.
Two bills have been introduced on this issue in the legislature. A bill by
Representative Warren Chisum would establish the prohibition without any
possible exception in both foster care and adoption. A bill by
Representative Robert Talton would order the state to immediately remove
all children currently in foster care with gay people, and would require
the state to question and investigate all new applicants on their sexual
orientation.
Both bills are so sweeping and aggressive that from an objective
standpoint, their passage would do serious harm to the best interests of
adoptive and foster care children in the state of Texas. We believe you
should veto both bills if they come to your desk.
During my work as Director of Adolescent Health Services under Governor
William Weld
in Massachusetts, I would see cases of wonderful little children
languishing in state care with no adoptive parents. The principle behind
the legislation proposed in Texas had been pioneered by former Governor
Michael Dukakis who literally used the power of the state to remove a young
child from the care of a gay couple. The courts eventually forced the
Dukakis administration to reverse course, but not after serious damage was
done. The child taken from the gay couple had been sexually molested in
the home of a heterosexual couple. Sadly, politics got in front of the
best interests of that child.
The Chisum and Talton bills officially establish any gay couple as unfit
for consideration as parents in all cases, regardless of their merits and
clear ability to provide a loving home. Stereotypes like that are the
product of ignorance and prejudice, not founded on the key principle of
protecting the best interests of children.
The Chisum legislation is dangerous because it establishes the policy that
in the state of Texas, there can never be a circumstance when a gay
individual or couple could either adopt a child or serve as a foster
parent, even if completely qualified and capable of providing a good home
for a needy child. Furthermore, the legislation prohibits the
considerations of homes where "homosexual conduct is likely to occur," and
a wide latitude is left for caseworkers to conclude how such a "likelihood"
exists.
The Talton legislation is particularly harmful in that it will summarily
remove all children currently under foster care with gay individuals or
couples, even if the home environment has been excellent for the child,
and/or the child has been in placement for an extended period of time and
positive attachments have formed. Furthermore, it requires foster care
caseworkers to conduct wide-ranging investigations of the private lives of
foster care applicants and gives similarly wide latitude for them to
establish that an applicant may be homosexual or bisexual in order to bar
them from participation. Information gathered by investigators, even
hearsay and false information, would be admissible and in the hands of
state agencies. This is a reckless and gratuitous expansion of state
power, designed simply to harass and intimidate people, not to help
children.
Both bills would cost the state up to $10 million a year to implement,
mostly in the added cost of initial and ongoing investigating of people's
personal lives and the added casework of removing children from homes. It
is clear that neither bill will result in furthering the best interests of
children in Texas. They were designed merely to express a blanket
intolerance towards gay people in Texas, with innocent children as
political pawns.
As the arbiter of adoption and foster care policy, the state has a clear
interest in assuring that all children under state care are placed in the
best home available to them. The North American Council on Adoptive
Children recently concluded that blanket prohibitions against gay adoptive
and foster parents is not justified.
We are here to help you on this issue. Any such radical changes in child
care policy should have the input of professionals and the broader
community in Texas. Since the legislation is aimed directly at gay people,
we believe that the views, experience, and empirical evidence offered by
gay Texans must also be strongly considered as you make your decision on
this or any such legislation. We hope that the best interests of children,
and not special interest politics, will guide child care policy in your
administration.
We look forward to working with your administration on this important issue.
Sincerely,
RICHARD TAFEL
Executive Director
Log Cabin Republicans
Log Cabin Republicans Kevin Ivers
(202) 347-5306 phone Director of Public Affairs
(202) 347-5224 fax http://www.lcr.org